


Out of Hiding

by shaeheda



Category: The 100 (TV), The 100 Series - Kass Morgan
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, Romance, Slow Burn, detective!clarke, writer!bellamy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-18
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2020-05-14 00:49:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19262608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shaeheda/pseuds/shaeheda
Summary: Clarke is a Detective being shadowed by the one and only Bellamy Blake so he can find inspiration for his next set of books.basically the castle au that no one asked for





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I had this story written for the castle fandom originally but lost interest, forgot about it maybe and never actually finished it. Fast forward 8 whole years later and here we are. 
> 
> If you aren't familiar with Castle that's okay, all you really need to know is that Clarke, Miller, and Murphy are detectives. Bellamy is a mystery writer who is shadowing Clarke so that he can find inspiration for his next novel series. I have set this fic 3 years after Bellamy started shadowing Clarke just for the sake of rapport, however if you guys want me to add in little flashback moments of the beginning of their relationship that is totally doable. 
> 
> Thank you for taking the time to read it, I hope you like it! You can find me on Tumblr @shaemysterious

Clarke walked into the precinct ready to complete some paperwork from the previously solved case. There was a certain lightness in the atmosphere. In all honesty, days like these were the kind Clarke cherished. Paperwork was one of the few things she truly liked about the job, it was tying up all ends to a case, it meant that the families could get the closure they needed, criminals were in their rightful place behind bars and the fallen really could rest in peace.

Bellamy walked in about an hour and a half later with the usual two cups of coffee. Between his fingertips was a small pastry bag. "It has been a while since I've brought you a bear claw, so I thought you might enjoy the nice little surprise, plus you're always complaining that I never come in to do paperwork," he said as he set Clarke's coffee down on her desk.

She turned her head upwards to look at him, smiled and said "Thanks Bell. You actually came to do paperwork huh?" Knowing he didn't have to come in first thing this morning, Bellamy couldn't stop the gravitational pull he felt tugging at him to be around Clarke Griffin. Even if it meant silently sitting there while she did paperwork, the silent part being quite impossible for him, he couldn't find anything better to do than to be next to her.

He gave a smile that lead her to believe she probably wouldn't like what he was about to say next. "Well if me doing paperwork means sitting here playing angry birds while you do the actual paperwork then yes, I came to do paperwork." Clarke just shook her head and turned her attention to the file in front of her.

She could feel his eyes on her, at the beginning of their partnership this used to bug her and it still was a little unnerving to have him watch her now after three years. She was finding it extremely hard to concentrate with him playing Angry Birds right next to her. Just before she could call him out on his annoying habit of talking back to the screen Miller walked back in from getting a cup of coffee to announce there was a murder.  _ 'Oh, Bellamy you don't know how lucky you are.'  _ Clarke thought.

 

* * *

 

Having been there first, Murphy was able to fill everyone in on the current situation when they arrived. "We got a 21-year-old male. The landlord identified him as Chris Woods. The door was wide open when he came to collect rent; he called 911 when he found the body. The victim has been living here for a little over a year and a half. Always pays cash at the first of every month."

As Clarke paced around the room while listening to Murphy, she spoke up. "It doesn't look like there is any sign of forced entry, so chances are he knew the killer." She slowly kept walking around the room looking at the damage.

Bellamy took a few looks around the room. That was all he needed. "Well if he knew the killer, they either didn't like each other or they were practicing for fight club." He tilted his head towards Clarke who was now beside him. He gave her a smirk of sarcasm and she gave him back one of annoyance.

Lincoln stood up from beside the body and walked over to the rest of the team. "Well our vic was definitely in an altercation and he put up a real fight. He has got abrasions all along his arms and abdomen."

Bellamy looked over at the victim tilting his head quizzically. "I don't think it did him much good. Looks like the killer went ninja assassin on him."

Clarke along with every other person in the room just gave Bellamy this look that had seemed to translate into ' _ did he really just say that?'  _ Clarke just seemed to say what everyone else was thinking "Really Bellamy? You're going with ninja assassin on this one?" After he nodded at her she rolled her eyes out of habit and returned her attention to Lincoln.

"As I was saying, the victim was in a fight and a brutal one, out of all the stab wounds he received it looks to actually be this one that punctured his liver." His gaze shifted to look from Miller to Clarke as he pointed to the fatal laceration.

Bellamy jumped in and questioned with eyebrows raised "Well do you have any idea what kind of knife he was stabbed with?"

Lincoln couldn't help but give Bellamy an attitude when he asked a question like that. "Well, Bellamy would you be willing to volunteer and let me test some of your ninja assassin theories on you until I find the right one?" Without missing a beat Bellamy locked his mouth closed and walked in another direction, any other direction that would be away from Lincoln.

Lincoln was one of the few other people that were able to put Bellamy in his place and that was just one of the many things Clarke loved about him. Clarke just smiled at her best friend then nodded towards the victim. "So Lincoln do we have a time of death?" the ME looked back over towards the body. "I would say with the decomposition and temp of the body it looks like he had his last breath anywhere between 8 and midnight last night. Once I get to the lab I can have a closer window for you."

All Clarke did was give a nod and say thank you before her attention was shifted over to Bellamy when she saw he was handing her a small case that contained some drug paraphernalia that they could only guess to be the victims at this point. Clarke took the evidence from Bellamy and placed it into an evidence bag. "Your ninja theory is looking a lot less plausible now." She hinted a small smile as a muscle slightly pulled up at the corner of her mouth before she turned her back to him. "Miller and Murphy, you stay here, canvas the area and ask the neighbors if they know anything and search the place to see what else you can dig up then we'll go from there. Bellamy, let's go back to the precinct and see what we can dig up on our vic." With that said, Clarke made her way out of the apartment building, her shadow not far behind.

 

* * *

 

After hours of computer searches and telephone calls, they had gathered up what little information there was on the victim that finally led to their first suspect. Captain Diyoza had questioned them about their first lead. Clarke filled her in on the basics of what she knew and informed her that after all their searching they had found no next of kin to contact so far. The Capt. instructed them to go and question the suspect and that she would get Murphy and Miller to search for any family or significant other.

Clarke sternly knocked on the door. The apartment belonged to a Jordan Green, however, Jordan Green did not open the door, instead, Clarke and Bellamy were greeted by a young girl dressed in nothing but her undergarments and a men's button-up shirt. Clarke quickly showed the girl her badge and asked to see Jordan. The girl tried to close the shirt she was wearing in an attempt to cover up once she realized there were two cops standing in front of her, well one cop and a writer but she didn't know that. She quickly walked out of sight as she went to get Jordan. Within a few seconds, he appeared only half-dressed. Jordan looked like a polite kid. He was only 22 from what his record said.

"Hello Jordan Green I am Detective Clarke Griffin, NYPD and this is Bellamy Blake. I was wondering if you would be willing to answer a few questions about an acquaintance of yours named Chris Woods?" After Clarke showed her credentials Jordan shifted his weight so that he was leaning on the frame of the door.

Jordan rolled his eyes and sighed. "Did he get caught breaking and entering again? Let me guess, he needs me to bail him out."

She was starting to get uneasy, she got the feeling that maybe he wouldn't be as willing to cooperate as she had hoped. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other and tried to begin to explain the situation. "Mr. Green…"

He let out a slight watered chuckle at just how formal she was. "Mr. Green is my father, just call me Jordan." The aching he felt towards his father was prominent in his voice. It seemed as though old memories came back as his face fell sad.

Sadly Clarke was not about to make things better by breaking the news of why she and Bellamy were really there. She didn't like breaking this news to anyone, though there were never any right circumstances in which to break the news to someone, this was not the ideal situation, but it had to be done. "Okay Jordan, we are actually investigating his murder. When was the last time that you were in contact with Chris Woods?"

Jordan gestured for Clarke and Bellamy to step inside his apartment. He knew that this wasn't going to be some quick chat about how his friend needed bail money or a character witness for trial. He let out a long breath that he didn't even know he was holding in before he spoke. "He’s dead? Oh man…" He rubbed his neck before he continued. "I actually just talked to him 2 days ago, it was brief, and he called me and said he needed help with something. Chris never said what he needed help with, the call lasted barely a few minutes, and he sounded like he was in a big hurry or something. After I said I would help he told me he would call me later this week after he worked out his plan and then he hung up."

Clarke and Bellamy sat down across from Jordan. Clarke was hunched over with her elbows resting on her knees as she looked at him quizzically. Bellamy had proper posture with his hands folded in his lap. His only facial expression was a raised left brow. He chimed in with a question of his own. "So you guys were friends? We saw your record. It was reported that you two had some sort of altercation while you both served time."

Jordan rubbed the back of his neck once more. It was clear he was trying to work through the news of his friend's death, make sense of everything. He looked down at the ground obviously less than proud of the statement Bellamy just made. "Yeah." He looked back up "We got off to a rocky start. I was in for some computer hacking I did for this company, it’s like Greenpeace only a lot smaller. He was in for some theft I think, we were like opposites of a moral compass or so I thought. In jail, you have to look out for yourself and at the time that's what I was doing. But we quickly patched things up, looked out for each other, and became friends." He shifted in his seat, trying to appear more at ease as the news was settling in. "There was one guy he seemed to piss off once or twice though. I don't know his real name just that he liked to be called 'Graveyard'"

"Jordan I have to ask this, Where were you last night between the hours of 8 and midnight?" She spoke leaning forward giving the young man a sort of stern look while she waited for his answer.

He leaned back after he nodded his head letting her know he understood that it was her job to ask these questions. "I was at work till 10 and then I came back home to my girlfriend Delilah and I have been here since."

Clarke started to stand up and Bellamy took note by doing the same. It seemed clear there wasn't much else they needed from him. She smiled at him kindly as a way to assure him of how helpful he was. "Alright, thanks Jordan. If you happen to think of anything else just give me a call." She handed him her card. They began to make their way out of his apartment before he stopped them.

"Did you guys happen to tell his sister yet?" it was easy to read the worry on his face.

Clarke and Bellamy both turned around. Their facial expressions matched this time, both of them had furrowed brows not really expecting that development. "We looked through everything we could find on him and there was no mention of family. No record of parents or any siblings at all." Bellamy rested his hands in his pant pockets while he waited for an explanation that made sense.

Jordan nodded and answered, "That is because they wanted to be as invisible as possible. The only family they had was each other." Jordan paused for a moment trying to decide whether he should tell them but he figured anything he told the cops would be helping his friends. "When Chris and his sister were in foster care I guess something bad happened, he never told me the whole story, When he was 17 he took his sister and they left the home they were staying in. They came to the city and he got them new identities, I don't even know what their real names are."

Bellamy continued with asking the questions. "Well, what does she currently go by?"

Jordan replied. "Madi. Madi Woods." He hoped that he was doing the right thing. He looked as though he wasn't sure if it really was.

Clarke stepped in, taking back the control Bellamy briefly had. "Do you know where we could find her?"

Jordan thought for a moment then said "It might be pretty hard. He did everything he could to make sure that on paper she didn't exist, that neither of them existed. Of course, he didn't care what happened to him, but he did whatever was necessary to keep her hidden. If I remember right, I think he would sometimes pick her up from a diner on Broadway called Tom's. I am pretty sure that is where she works."

Making eye contact Clarke chimed in and once again gave a reassuring smile "Thank you Jordan you have really been helpful." Bellamy and Clarke then made a quick exit from the apartment. As Bellamy gave Jordan a wave good-bye Clarke was on her phone making a call to Miller.

As they were walking down the hall Clarke was giving instructions for Miller and Murphy to find the Diner and go to check it out. Once she gave the order she hung up. "Come on Bell; let's head back to the precinct.”

 

* * *

 

When Miller and Murphy walked back into the precinct they saw Bellamy sitting in his chair located next to Clarke's desk. He was watching her as she wrote on the murder board all they had come up with in the past hour or so.

After she heard the wheels of their chairs scoot across the floor she turned towards them. "Did anything pan out from the diner?" She rested her hands on her hips after she placed the cap on the whiteboard marker.

Murphy leaned back in his seat and rested his hands on the arms of his chair. "We talked to the owner. He pays her under the table, in cash so there is no way to trace her on paper, but payday is tomorrow so he said we should be able to catch her some time from 10 to 11 a.m."

Clarke walked over to her desk, picked up her cup of coffee and took a drink. "Alright." She looked down at her watch. "It is kind of getting late so why don't we call it a night and pick up again tomorrow." She began to pick her jacket up off her chair. Murphy and Miller were already making their way into the elevator. Bellamy watched as the doors closed.

"Calling it a night earlier than usual? You have a date or something?" Bellamy asked as they both walked to the elevator together waiting for it to make its way back up.

There was a quick beat of silence before she chose to answer. She could see he was starting to get nervous so she just smiled and decided to put him out of his misery. "No date Bellamy. I am actually just hoping to get some sleep tonight, I didn't get much last night." The elevator made a ding as the doors opened up letting them inside. Beckett pushed the button that would lead them to the ground floor. As the doors closed she continued "The couple in the apartment next to me had some sort of fight. It kept me up till around 1. So I am looking to get all the sleep I can tonight."

Bellamy felt a small crooked smile fall upon his face. Though he was joking when he made the comment about the date, he did feel a small amount of worry and sadness when she had paused before she answered the question. The elevator's doors opened and let them go their separate ways home, but not before Bellamy said a quick "Until tomorrow princess." and turned to face her one last time for the night.

"Goodnight Bell." She only gave a small wave and quick smile before she hopped in her car and headed home prepared for a good night's sleep.

 

* * *

 

Clarke had made it back to her apartment building in record time. There appeared to be a higher power at work since none of the subways on her route home were delayed. On her way to her apartment, she spotted her neighbor in the hallway leaned up against her front door. She knew the lack of subway delays was too good to be true. The closer she got to her door the more evident the tear streaks on her neighbors face became. “Hey Raven, are you okay?” she spoke softly as the girl leaning against her door refused to make eye contact, no matter how obvious her presence was.

After Raven released the breath she was holding she looked up at Clarke. She waited a moment to try and gather her words, wanting to speak without breaking down. “Finn’s an asshole.” 

Clarke gave a slight chuckle at Raven’s admission “Aren’t all men?” as she started to pull her keys from her purse Raven had moved away from the door so that Clarke could gain access and unlock it. As soon as it was unlocked she pushed it wide open and invited Raven in for a much-needed glass of wine.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I hope you liked the first chapter! I hope the case/procedural stuff makes sense, I don't have any real knowledge of how homicide cases are handled and only have my years of watching crime shows to go off of. 
> 
> We meet Madi in this chapter! For this story I changed her age to 15.
> 
> I hope you like this chapter! Comments and kudos are extremely appreciated and wonderful motivators.
> 
> You can always find me on Tumblr @shaemysterious :)

A well-rested Clarke was sitting at her desk hard at work that morning when Bellamy walked in with the two usual cups of coffee. "Good morning princess." He placed her cup on her desk on top of the papers she was reading. She was looking for anything that might move the case along in some way. Bellamy cheerfully sat down in his chair and lifted one leg to cross over the other as he took a sip from the cup in his hands.

"Morning Bell." She removed the coffee cup from the papers it was sitting on and took a sip. She placed her hand over her mouth and swallowed quickly when she felt the coffee burn her tongue then set down her coffee. Her coffee was extremely hot, unlike this case. They didn't have much to go off of and trying to find good leads, in this case, was like a needle in a haystack at this point. Bellamy quickly apologized for the coffee being too hot; he went on to say he specifically asked the barista to make sure that it wouldn't be too hot. Clarke just smiled "Bellamy it's okay. It can cool off while we work on the case." She said as she pointed over to the murder board.

Clarke stood up from her seat. She grabbed the dry erase marker that was on her desk next to her keyboard and walked over to the murder board. Castle saw that she had started writing underneath a picture they had found of Paxton McCreary. After they had gotten back to the precinct from talking with Jordan Green they did some poking around in the records of the Metropolitan Correctional Center. They then found out that the guy who was known as 'Graveyard' was actually Paxton McCreary, a 31-year-old man with a long record of drug possession, intent to sell and probation violations. It was a mystery how the victim had managed to get in trouble with someone like McCreary. Chris Woods only spent a short amount of time in jail when he was 19 for breaking into a bodega and stealing food. The only connection Chris actually had to McCreary was that for a short period of time they were both in the same jail facility.

Miller and Murphy had walked in not long after Bellamy. They each walked over to the whiteboard to see if there had been any new developments. Not much had been added to the very plain board. This case was harder than most. Chris Woods was practically a ghost; there was not much to go off of. There was no way to dig up any dirt from his past because prior to 4 years ago there was no one named Chris Woods.

Making sure the investigation was moving along Capt. Diyoza walked out of her office to get a feel for what the detectives were thinking. She walked right up to the murder board only examining it for a short second. "How did the visit with Jordan Green go yesterday?" Her eyes passed Bellamy and landed on Clarke waiting for an answer.

"Well, he claims they'd patched things up just before they were both released. He did happen to give us the name of a sister that we didn't know about. Miller and Murphy went to check out the place where she works yesterday and the owner said that we would be able to catch her around 10 today." She kept eye contact with Diyoza knowing she would soon voice her opinion.

"Okay. What else did you find out about the victim Chris Woods?" She saw that there wasn't much by how bare the murder board looked but she crossed her arms seeking answers anyways.

Miller took lead by speaking up to answer Diyoza’s question "Well other than the sister, not much. The only other thing we know is that he had a few problems with a drug dealer named Paxton McCreary"

The name seemed to ring a bell with Captain Diyoza. Her face which normally remained neutral had a hardened expression. “The infamous McCreary.” she sighed  “That scumbag was released a few months back and every precinct in the city has been watching him like a hawk, waiting for him to slip up so they can throw his ass back in prison.” She looked pointedly at each detective before continuing “I want this done as cleanly as possible if it was him that murdered Mr. Woods I don’t want him walking on a technicality. See if you can find some of this drug dealer's crew. You're probably more likely to get one of them to talk." She walked back into her office without waiting for any of the detectives to respond and she certainly did not want to hear another one of Bellamy's far-fetched theories.

Bellamy spoke up, breaking the silence with a question they were all thinking. "I just don't get it. How does someone like Chris Woods end up pissing off a guy like Paxton McCreary? He runs almost half of the drug scene all over New York City. I mean how did these guys even cross paths? They are polar opposites." Bellamy was facing the rest of the team with his back to the murder board, his lips contorted to the side and eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

Having dealt with guys like McCreary, Murphy lent his expertise on the subject. "With guys like McCreary it isn't hard to piss them off and once you do they make sure you're sorry for it. I actually spoke to one of the guards at the prison earlier and he said that some of McCreary's guys roughed him up and then not long after Chris was pretty much running around with them, doing whatever they asked. Maybe he was doing their dirty work for them after he got out as well." He shrugged.

Miller chimed in with an idea. "Murphy and I will start asking around about Paxton McCreary, see if we can get a list of some of his crew members and bring them in for questioning?" He slapped Murphy on his shoulder, a gesture to follow him back to their desks and get to work, which Murphy returned with an eye roll

Clarke called out to both detectives as they walked away. "Don't bring them in till after we go down and talk to the sister. We should leave in about 30 minutes if we want to get there before she does." They shouted from across the room in response letting her know that her order was heard and would be followed. She turned back to look at Bellamy.

"Did you ever hear back from Social Services on whether or not they had a missing brother and sister?" He followed her back to her desk and they both sat down in their respective chairs in unison. He crossed one leg over the other as he lifted his elbow to rest it on the arm of his chair, his chin falling into the palm of his hand.

Leaning back in her chair with her arms outstretched to run her hands through the half curled ringlet of her hair she answered with a tone of frustration "Nothing yet. Apparently, it isn't uncommon for kids in the foster care system to just run away or disappear as one might think." She gave her hair a quick shake with her fingers and then moved her hands forward to massage her temples. Clarke was both frustrated and disappointed in the lack of evidence in the case so far. "Plus it doesn't help that Social Services is constantly backed up with case files and all sorts of paperwork." Even at the release of the deep breath she had just taken in it still was not enough to calm her.

 

* * *

 

A while later, just in time, Miller and Murphy came back with a small list of suspects to talk to, some of Paxton McCreary's crew members. Murphy handed the folder over to Clarke containing the list of names she needed. "These are just a few. There are a couple currently in jail and I am sure some we don't even know about, but these were the ones we could get." He placed both hands in his pants pockets and stood there next to Miller waiting for her reply.

"Great work guys." She looked down at her watch noticing the time. "It is about 9 so we should head down to the diner where Madi Woods works." They all scattered grabbing their jackets, car keys, badges and guns. As Clarke was pulling on her jacket she shouted over to Miller. "Hey what was the address of the diner?"

He turned to her as they were all walking towards the elevator. "It's on the corner of Broadway and W 112th St."

Now outside walking to their cars Clarke gave an order "You guys sit at the corner of Broadway and we will take 112th."

 

* * *

 

By the time both cars were parked in their designated spots, it was a quarter to ten. Just in time to see Madi walk into the diner. Clarke radioed over to Miller. "See anything yet?" He declined any sight of the girl on their corner. She had confirmed that there was no movement on her side as well.

There was a subtle movement coming from the passenger's seat. Bellamy turning to look at her said "Why are we treating this like some sort of special ops mission? She is just a little teenage girl right?" His voice was light but his face was serious with a hint of confusion.

His partner just smirked at him. She knew that you could never underestimate anybody. "Bell this girl has managed to be a ghost on all counts up until this point. She and her brother ran away from the foster care system around 4 years ago so she has no reason to trust cops. We have to assume that she is going to try and run the moment she spots us."

Before Bellamy could give his thoughts on her answer Miller interrupted over the radio. "We spot her. She just went inside. She is wearing jeans and a tan cargo jacket. She also has a blue baseball cap on." Clarke radioed back giving the order to go and get her.

Just as they were shutting the doors of their cars Madi was making her way out of the diner placing the money she just picked up in her jacket pocket and zipped it up. As each of the team members was walking across the interchange they noticed that she had spotted them and began to run. Miller and Murphy went around the corner of Broadway to try and cut her off at the alley in the back of the building while Clarke and Bellamy chased behind her. The young girl heard someone shout "STOP! NYPD!" But she didn't stop and she didn't dare look behind her. She cut into the alleyway behind the diner and she could see another pair of detectives at the end making their way towards her. Getting caught was not an option. Instead, she jumped on top of a dumpster on the right side of the alley. From there she outstretched her legs to reach the fire escape that was inches in front of her. Clarke was closest in distance compared to the others so she repeated the same path that Madi had. Bellamy was not far behind, not wanting to miss a moment of the action.

As each of the three made their way up the fire escape, Madi only about a level and a half ahead, Clarke shouted her name. "Madi Woods stop! Police!" She disobeyed the orders to stop and kept going up until she had reached the top of the building.

 It wasn't long after she made it to the top that Clarke had too, and now had her gun out pointing at the back of the girl as she ran across the roof. She gave one final warning as Madi reached the ledge of the building, standing on the metal that bordered the edge. "Madi Woods stop or I will shoot. This is the last warning." 

She noticed that the young girl turned her head back to look at her. At that moment Bellamy whispered in her ear "You can't shoot her, she is just a kid." But she shushed him quiet as she pulled back on her gun and narrowed her eyes focusing on the girl's figure, ready to fire if she moved. For a moment she squatted down, looking almost as though she had decided to give up. She had actually done the complete opposite by leaping the short distance to the building in front of her. She had managed to grab hold of the top of the building, using all the upper body strength she had and with the assistance of her legs scraping across the side of the building to pull herself up and over the ledge. Clarke had not taken the chance to shoot her, she couldn't. It wasn't like she would aim to kill her, but just somewhere that would stall her for long enough to cuff her. Bellamy's words that had run uncontrollably on a loop through her mind had stopped her from firing her gun. 

Madi popped up after having made it onto the roof successfully. She took a quick glance at Clarke and Bellamy. Only for a moment, long enough to make out the next word that had come out of the detective's mouth. "Dammit!" she said as she lowered her gun and used her free hand to run her fingers through her hair out of frustration. Clarke saw that Madi was looking at her, but not long before she ran getting as far away from the cops as possible.

Just as Clarke had hopped down off the fire escape, Bellamy mimicking her movements, she walked up to Miller and Murphy. "We almost had her. She jumped to the next building over and kept going. Now she is gone and there is no way of finding her." Clarke was thinking of their next move. Everyone else just watched her in silence. She looked over at her team. She looked at them as though the answers might have been written on their faces. It's almost as if they were, her posture had straightened out, she had a new plan. "Let's head back to the precinct. Murphy and Miller you guys start rounding up some of McCreary's crew and see what you can get out of them." They immediately turned to go back to their car. Clarke turned on her heels and started to pace towards her car. As Bellamy followed behind he was thinking of a good apology, he was not able to find the right words at the moment.

As they were driving in the car she had suggested that maybe Bellamy talk with a sketch artist. Maybe they could use a picture of her to run through the Social Services database, see if they could get a hit, figure out her real identity along with her brother’s. The car had been parked directly in front of the doors of the precinct. As they were making their way in Clarke had received a call from Lincoln with some news. There was obvious relief in Clarke's voice as she let the M.E. know she would be over to the morgue shortly to discuss what was found.

 

* * *

 

Clarke walked into the morgue with high hopes. She had hoped that whatever Lincoln had would break the case wide open. She walked up to the dead body that was lying on the examination table, with a typical 'Y' shaped cut on the chest from when the autopsy was performed. Lincoln walked into the room second later and Clarke asked for what he had on the victim or the killer.

Picking up the file folder that was next to the victim Lincoln took one last quick glance over it before speaking. "Well, our victim was killed at around 11 o'clock last night." Lincoln put down the file and lifted one of the victim’s hands as if to examine it at a closer view. He looked up at his friend as he spoke. "Some bruising appeared on his hands, my guess is from when he fought back, but I was unable to find any skin or DNA underneath his fingernails." He picked up the file once more this time handing it to Clarke so that she could see for herself. "I was able to find your weapon. He was stabbed multiple times with the same three and a quarter-inch blade. We were able to find a match in our system by the traces of stainless steel we found. It is a spring-assisted tactical pocket knife."

Finally, she had useful information that was sure to give them strong leads about the case, hopefully. She smiled at her best friend and said thank you before going back up to the precinct to share the news with the rest of the team and see where they were at with other leads.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys are liking the story! 
> 
> I should have the case wrapped up in the next 2 chapters or so. Since the whole purpose of this case was really to introduce Madi & Jordan to Bellarke I haven't decided if I will continue to add little snippets of other cases they work on together into the story (or maybe somehow doing flashbacks of when they first met???) let me know if that is something you would be interested in :)
> 
> Here is chapter 3

It looked like everyone was hard at work, following up on leads when she walked out of the elevator. Murphy was just getting off the phone when Clarke approached. "Hey. Uniforms are bringing in a few of McCreary's crew members now so we should be able to question them soon." He followed Clarke over to the murder board as she went to add all the information Lincoln had given her.

Murphy was handed the file before she wrote anything down. "Lincoln says that is our murder weapon so I want you to call around and see what shops sell this knife, then get their record of everyone that has bought one." After he left to do as she requested she turned to the murder board to adjust the timeline they had created. Seconds later she saw Bellamy walking out of the refreshments area with the sketch artist. She straightened up as the approached.

The sketch artist handed her the completed picture and shook both of their hands before exiting the building. Miller walked up to examine the change made on the board. "Miller can you take this picture down to Social Services and see if anyone knows who she really is, then once you get her name go ahead and send out an APB to all airports, train and bus stations, and every hospital. Put her on the news stations as well." He nodded in response then quickly got to work. Just as he left there were police officers bringing in the first of McCreary's crew. Clarke looked over and watched as each one was placed in a different interrogation room.

"Let's go, Bellamy, there are a lot of felons who need to be questioned." She was on her way into interrogation room 1; knowing Bellamy would not be far behind.

 

* * *

 

Walking out of the last interrogation room Clarke let out a thick sigh. Bellamy had shut the door and quickened his step to catch up with the detective who was making her way over to the murder board to find a new approach to take, the one they were using currently was not being as effective as they would have liked. "It's no surprise none of those guys had any pertinent information, they are all in a gang if they squeal they are as good as dead." Clarke had tuned out his voice though. The negative comments were not helping her in any way.

"Dude in every group there's always at least one weakling, you just gotta find the right guy." Murphy had appeared beside Bellamy and as Murphy spoke he tilted his head towards him with raised brows as if to indicate he was the weakling in their group. Murphy always knew how to make Clarke smile in times of need.

Bellamy turned his entire body towards Murphy in defense. "Hey, I have been vital to your investigations on multiple occasions." Murphy was smiling with a touch of sarcasm as Bellamy continued "If I recall I helped save your life when you and Miller were captured during that Lockwood case last year."

Before Murphy could try to refute Bellamy's statement Clarke chimed in to break up the argument. "Guys! Can you take this argument up another time? We didn't get much from McCreary's guys other than confirmation that Chris Woods was working for them. I am thinking we need to go talk to Paxton McCreary himself."

Clarke suddenly got distracted by Miller running back with a list of people who had bought the same knife used to kill their victim. He spoke as he handed a manila folder over to Clarke watching as she opened it to examine the list. "There are about a handful of shops that sell that particular knife. After sifting through all the names I found one that sounded very familiar." Bellamy was looking over Clarke's shoulder as she read the list and spotted the one that Miller had highlighted. They spoke the name "Jordan Green." in unison and then turned their heads towards each other with smiles of amazement plastered on their faces. The other two detectives in the room just smiled at the pair knowing that this was a regular occurrence.

The first to snap out of the trans they both seemed to be in was Clarke "Murphy, you and Bellamy go pick up Jordan Green and bring him in to question him. Miller and I will go and talk to McCreary." Everyone split up into their designated teams determined to make progress with the case.

Murphy pulled up to the apartment building of Jordan Green. He and Bellamy made their way up the stairs to the 5th floor, the elevator being out of order. They each took the final breath needed to steady their heart rates. Murphy knocked on the door "Jordan Green open up!". He did just that. This time it was Jordan who opened the door. Murphy flashed his badge and Bellamy flashed his smile. "Why don't you come down to the station with us." Jordan let out a sigh as he shut the door behind him and followed as they all walked back to the car to make their way to the precinct.

 

* * *

 

Nothing about the neighborhood scared Clarke or Miller in the least, but both would be the first to admit that they were a little on edge walking through an area of town such as this one. Once Paxton McCreary was spotted the team of detectives walked over to him. He was the type of guy that demanded power in any situation, but they were not going to give it to him. It was clear to him they were cops, Clarke had briefly shown her badge as she was walking up and Miller's hung around his neck in clear view. The gang leader's posture had changed as soon as they reached him, he was standing in a fashion that had told them they weren't welcome and the detectives, of course, ignored this.

"Hey, we heard you got a guy named Chris Woods working for you. That true?" Miller was ready to face off with the gang leader, not only did he despise guys like him but he was also tired of the case going nowhere. He was determined to get answers. Clarke watched them standoff, taking note of McCreary’s every move looking for some sign that he might be guilty, knowing full well that Miller would get the answers he requested one way or another. McCreary's posture changed after a few moments. His hands were now in his pockets and he was no longer leaning up against the wall of the building behind him. He realized they would not be leaving till they go what they came for.

"Can't be good for business, being seen talking to cops. Can't be good for your reputation either." Clarke tilted her head looking at him with a smirk knowing full well he would likely talk having realized that she was right. He took a step forward, keeping his eyes locked on her.

 

* * *

 

Their suspect had been waiting in the interrogation room for around 10 minutes before Murphy walked in with Bellamy directly behind him shutting the door forcefully all the while keeping a stern and serious look on his face. Murphy tossed a file on the table that landed in front of the suspect. He pointed to the file "Why don't you open that up and tell me what you see." He ordered.

As Jordan opened the manila folder Bellamy walked over to sit at the table. He planted himself in the steel chair and folded his hands on the tabletop. His eyes looked deeply at Jordan as he awaited his reaction to what was in the folder. Murphy had placed himself up against the observation mirror.

It was instantly clear that Jordan Green was ready to play games, however, the writer and detective weren't. He shrugged answering "A knife." In the most obvious sarcastic tone. He leaned over the table and shifted his gaze between Murphy and Bellamy. His tone now had an element of arrogance. "If you guys need me to tell you that this is a knife…" He locked his glare on Murphy as if he was challenging him in some way. He finished "Maybe being a cop wasn't the right career move."

His left foot kicked off the wall and he walked over to the table, letting out a light and sarcastic chuckle. He had clearly been underestimated, but he was about to set the record straight. He was purposely invading the personal space of Jordan. He firmly set both hands on the table putting his face inches from Jordan's but all the while looking at Bellamy. "This guy likes jokes." He lifted one of his hands to point at Jordan. He used that same hand to lift a picture of the knife directly in Kyle's line of sight. Murphy spoke in a calm yet forceful manner. "This knife is the same one that was used to kill your buddy Chris." He walked around to the other side of the table to sit in the seat next to Bellamy.

"Not so funny now are you Jordan," Bellamy said with a proudly plastered smile on his face to accompany his very pleased tone.

Murphy jumped in "You want to know what else isn't funny?" He waited to see if Jordan would have some sort of answer but did not give him the chance to vocalize it. "Murder," Murphy said as he went to place the photo that was still in his hand back in the folder that was still on the tabletop. "We talked to your girlfriend and she said that you guys went to sleep shortly after you got home from work. Jordan’s posture shifted slightly so Murphy continued "Which means you had more than enough time to go over to Chris' apartment, being that you only live a few blocks from each other, and kill him."

At this point, it was evident Jordan began to squirm as he straightened up in his seat. "Also since you own the same weapon that was used to kill him, it isn't looking good for you."

Castle raised his left finger to add to the list of evidence against Jordan, which would make him look very guilty in front of any jury. "You can't forget the fight they had while both serving time in jail either." He smiled as if to say 'Gotcha'

A very cheerful Murphy looked over at Bellamy and snapped his fingers. "You're right!" He looked back over toward the suspect. "Feel like confessing yet?"

“Murder? I’ve only ever committed one crime in my life and it was computer hacking for an environmental company, you really think I’m capable of murder?” Jordan Green leaned in real close to request his lawyer. The pair got up. "Fine with me. We can escort you down to holding to wait there for your lawyer. I am sure 'Crazy Tim' would love the company.

They were near the door as Bellamy added, "you look like his type." He placed his hand on the doorknob and was just about to turn it when Jordan shouted out to stop him. Both Murphy and Bellamy turned to face him wanting to hear what he had to say.

"Okay yes I bought the knife, but not for me. Chris wanted me to buy if for him, err, his sister Madi."

This information definitely sparked their interest. They walked back over to the table. Murphy questioned, "Why would his sister need a knife?" Bellamy had also followed up with a couple of questions of his own. "And why would he need  _ you _ to buy it for him? Why not just get it himself?"

He took in a deep breath. "He asked me to get it for him because he didn't want it traced back to him, said in case McCreary was following him, I don't know if he was paranoid, he said he needed to get the knife for Madi so that she could protect herself. He went on to say that he got into some trouble and they threatened him and Madi. I thought he was just being dramatic, he tended to exaggerate a lot."

Murphy lightly placed his fingertips on the tabletop. "Did he tell you the name of the person threatened him?"

He shook his head no. "Educated guess it would have been one of McCreary’s guys. After I found out that Chris was dead I tried to call his sister but all I got were a few rings and then her voicemail." he shrugged.

Bellamy asked for the sister's phone number and then started to walk out of the interrogation room but not before Murphy let Jordan know he was being released and that an officer would be by to take him home. As Bellamy was shutting the door he pointed at Jordan while saying "Don't leave town."

 

* * *

 

"Yeah, he did favors for me. Not lately though, haven't seen him in a couple of days." He shrugged.

Clarke laughed as she stepped closer "So you expect us to believe that one of your guys just goes missing and doesn't contact you for a couple of days and it's all cool with you?"

The ring of Clarke's phone had interrupted the conversation so she stepped aside to answer it while Miller continued the conversation. On the other line was Murphy filling her in on the progress they had made with the interrogation. He let her know everything he knew about the threats and the sister's phone number. She wrapped up their conversation by saying "Great work. See if you can get a trace on the phone." Murphy agreed to do so from the other side of the line. "Call me once you get a location." After giving orders she hung up and went to return to Miller's side. She walked up in time to hear the last statement McCreary gave about Chris not being valuable enough to keep tabs on. She was placing her phone in her coat pocket as she spoke. "Oh. So is that why you threatened him?"

He knew that he was caught in a lie. There was no use in trying to dance around the question or cover it up with more lies. He figured his best bet would be to deny the accusations. "I don't know what threats you're talkin' about?"

"Well, maybe a ride downtown can help clear your memory." Miller had no problem slapping cuffs on Paxton McCreary and bringing him back to the precinct.

 

* * *

 

The moment they got back to the precinct Miller took McCreary back to holding to let him ponder his decision not to be helpful in their investigation.

Before Clarke could even sit at her desk her phone was ringing. She rushed over to answer it. "Griffin." Just as soon as she started to take her jacket she put it right back on. She said a polite 'thank you' to the person on the other line and hung up her phone back on the receiver.

Murphy walked back in with a piece of paper in his hand. "Tech wasn't able to get GPS coordinates off of the phone because it is a burner, but a call was made about 15 minutes ago and they were able to get the location off a nearby cell tower."

"911." She finished his statement

"Yeah, that was the last call she made. How did you know?" He stood looking confused as did Bellamy who was standing next to the murder board.

"That was St. Luke's Hospital Center. They called to let us know a young girl was brought in matching the name and description that was sent out with the APB. They told us she was beaten up pretty bad but we could go down and talk to her." She reached into her pocket and grabbed her keys. As she began to walk out of the precinct she said, "come on Bellamy, let's go."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos are wonderful motivators and always greatly appreciated!
> 
> Like always you can find me on tumblr @shaemysterious


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back with a new chapter! This is by far the longest chapter I have written, but the good news about that is that it means the case will be wrapped up next chapter!
> 
> I hope you guys are liking this story so far!
> 
> If you ever want to talk about the 100 or be friends my tumblr is @shaemysterious

The lovely nurse at the front desk, who's name tag said ‘Harper’ escorted Clarke and Bellamy to the bed where Madi was as soon as she saw the police badge. They arrived at the bed in the far corner of the E.R. and noticed that the curtain was pulled closed. Clarke lifted her hand gently to the cloth barrier between her and the young girl and slightly pulled at it so that she was able to make her way over to the bed. As soon as the girl was in her line of sight Clarke cringed internally. When she heard the phrase 'beaten up' she figured a busted lip and maybe a black eye, nothing like what was in front of her at that moment. Madi Woods had major cuts on her forehead and cheek, scrape along the bottom of her jaw that looked as though she was dragged along pavement face down. All the cuts were also accompanied by a bruise around her neck and her left eye. All of it was only on the surface, there was much more damage that couldn't be seen.

As soon as Clarke flashed her badge at Madi she knew things were about to get worse. She tossed her head back onto the pillow and kept her eyes fixated on the ceiling tiles above. "Am I going to juvy or back to Social Services?" At first, there was no response so she lifted her head off the pillow and looked at the detective who just shrugged.

She moved slowly to the right side of the bed, next to the monitors, she glanced at them, even studied them for a short moment and then back at Madi. "It's all up to you if you’re willing to cooperate." Not a word was said on Madi's behalf. She lifted her left arm to show that it was restrained by a set of handcuffs that the officer had placed on her and the bed rail earlier. "Okay, well how about we start with how you ended up like this, beaten up." She narrowed her eyes, demanding the truth all the while knowing she probably wouldn't get it the first time around.

"Well, it's quite funny actually, after I had outrun you and your team…" She raised her chin out of arrogance. "I decided to hide out in Butler Library for a while and on my way out I wasn't paying attention. One of my shoelaces was untied; I tripped over my laces and fell down the stairs. Not my most graceful moment." Her posture did not change, instead, she sat there waiting to answer the next question.

It was clear Clarke did not believe a word of her story. "That was a very nice story Madi. It would even be a bit more believable if the ambulance picked you up at Butler Library, but they didn't. In fact, they picked you up about four and a half blocks in the opposite direction, near a subway station on 110th. So do you want to tell me the truth or do you want me to come up with my own story?" The only movement she made was when she placed her hands in her pockets. She was still as she waited to see just how difficult this conversation would be.

Her eyes shifted from looking at Detective Griffin over to looking at the pastel-colored curtain. Weren't hospital's supposed to make people feel better, help them get well? Those curtains did not seem cheerful or like they would make anyone feel remotely better. "You don't know anything." She said in a hushed, deep tone that was just loud enough for both Clarke and Bellamy to hear.

It was time to lay all her cards on the table. Clarke realized that she was either going to cooperate or not. She wasn't giving half-truths, she was lying point-blank. The detective was about to give her last stitch of efforts in getting the girl to come clean, she really hoped that it would work. "Actually I know a lot. I'm a cop and it’s my job to know things. I know your real name isn't Madi Woods." Her head snapped over to look at Clarke. "I know you went into foster care on your 2nd birthday. When you were only 11 you and your brother ran away from foster care and created a new life for yourselves." Clarke bent down to sit on the edge of the bed still keeping eye contact. She could tell she was getting somewhere because Madi had the beginnings of tears forming in her eyes. "About a week and a half ago your brother was threatened by some pretty bad guys and I am guessing they are the ones that jumped you. Am I right?"

Her head hung in confirmation while she quickly wiped the singer tear that was on the brink of falling on her cheek. She was mad at herself for letting that tear form. She was not weak, even if she was she didn't want anyone else making that discovery and using it against her.

Their hands connected and the girl looked back up once more. "I know lately it has been rough for you and unfortunately what I am going to say next isn't going to be easy to hear." She took in a deep breath "Yesterday we found your brother Chris, I am sorry to tell you, he was murdered. We need you to start telling us the truth so we can find the person responsible."

Her brother's echo in her head kept saying  _ 'be strong' _ . If the silence had gone on any longer she would have broken down. She was doing everything in her power to prevent that from happening, she was in a haze when she started talking. "The other night I worked the late shift, I got off at 7 yesterday morning, I-I saw all these cops outside the building so I just kept walking because I thought they were there t-to put me back into the foster care and I didn't want to go back, I couldn't! I called him. I called Chris but he never answered me. I tried to find out where he was but no one knew." The thoughts running through her head kept her distracted to the point where she hadn't even noticed multiple tears fell from her face.

Clarke rested a hand on the girl's shoulder while Bellamy watched. He wanted so badly to service some help but he knew that the best thing he could do was just to let Clarke do what she was good at. "I need you to tell me what happened today, I need you to tell me who hurt you."

The back of her hand rubbed against her cheek as she tried to wipe the tears away. After they were gone she placed her hands in her lap and nervously fidgeted with her fingers. She looked up towards Bellamy as some sort of assurance that she would be doing the right thing by telling them what really happened. There was something in the look he gave her that was as compassionate as it was trusting.

 She put on her poker face as she shifted in the bed she felt a strong pain in her rib cage as a result of the 2 ribs that had been broken, and another cracked. "I was in a rush to catch the subway so I could crash at a friend's until I could figure out what to do. I didn't even notice anyone start to follow me, I should have noticed. The subway just left and I was waiting for the next one to come by when…" She reached for the back of her head "I felt my head being yanked back. They pulled me all the way to the wall." She dropped her hand back into her lap. "The two of them started hitting me and kicking me once I fell to the ground. I didn't even notice when they stopped until one of them picked me up by my throat." She swallowed hard remembering what the hands around her neck felt like, they were hot. "One of them kept saying I had to make up for my brother’s mistake, that I had to make it right. Then he slammed the back of my head against the wall. I was barely able to dial 911 before I passed out." She looked over at the detective.

Even though she knew the answer already, she still had to ask "You don't know who they were?" The girl didn't know if that was a statement or a question but shook her head 'No' anyways. Clarke really wanted to get these guys. She didn't like the way they did as they pleased and she certainly did not like the way they were messing with her investigation, intentional or not. "Would you know their faces, if you saw them again?"

Bellamy's eyes snapped over to Clarke and then back at the girl. She was looking at him this time almost as if she wanted him to intervene. She has no one looking out for her, which is why he felt the need to pull the detective aside. "Clarke, can I talk to you for a second?" He looked back over with pleading eyes. They both politely smiled before stepping a short distance away from the curtain.

"What is it Bellamy?" she worked up as she placed both hands on her hips.

He looked past her in the direction of the curtain and then back into her. "I… I think we should find another way to get these guys. Maybe we can check the cameras at the subway station. I think she’s been through enough. Don't make her go through having to pick their faces out of a line-up or a book."

"Bell…" She shook her head and looked down at her feet. "Asking her to do this isn't easy for me either but for the sake of this case if we want to have any chance at catching these guys we can't simply rely on bad quality video footage alone. I'm sorry, but we have to get her to identify them."

"Just…" He was having a hard time getting his words out "Can you just let me talk to her?"

One of the many things she loved about Bellamy Blake was how he was always compassionate towards others. She tilted her head accepting his request. "You can talk to her while I am talking to her doctor, then we should head back to the precinct."

"Thank you, princess" He smiled before leaving her.

When Madi Woods looked up she only saw Bellamy and though he was smiling at her there was a touch of sympathy in his eyes as he pulled the curtain back over to separate them from the rest of the hospital. "I don't think I can identify those guys." Her voice was shaking but she did everything she could to mask that.

He walked over to the hospital bed that she was laying in and rested his hand on the end of the railing. "You have been through a lot in the past two days and I know this must be hard, but if you help us and identify the guys that did this to you we can catch your brother's killer."

"No pressure." She scoffed sarcastically. She swallowed "I can take a beating, but if I want to continue to breathe then I can't do it. I can't do what you're asking of me. You're going to have to find another way." She shook her head.

Out of frustration he looked down and placed his hands in his pockets trying to find another approach. "If you do this we can make sure you stay safe, make sure a guard is nearby at all times. They won't be able to get to you."

There was no question that she would walk away if she could, but she was stuck. "What happens when I get out of here? I have a job, I have to be able to support myself and I can't be looking over my shoulder every 5 seconds." She suddenly realized she had raised her voice. She took a deep breath in "I'm sorry but I-I can't." She looked at him apologetically hoping he would understand.

He took his hands out of his pockets and took a step from where he was. "I promise you if you agree to identify the guys who did this to you we will keep you safe until they are locked up for a very long time." He looked at her with the hope that she would believe in him enough to say yes.

She thought about it while she shifted uncomfortably in pain. "Hasn't anyone ever told you not to make promises you can't keep?"

"I will keep this promise and if you won’t do it for me then do it for your brother, this may be our only chance at catching them, you may be our only chance." He saw the tears start to gather in her eyes the moment he mentioned her brother. He hoped that was a good sign.

His hope was contagious. She was starting to hope that it would work out, that they would catch her brother's killer. That, however, did not stop her from worrying. She used jokes and sarcasm whenever she got worried. "Okay I will do it, but I am giving you fair warning that my memory wasn't all the great before it got my head kicked and slammed against a wall. So I will probably be about as useful as a computer with no hard drive." A smile stretched across her face trying to get rid of any evidence that might lead him to think she was scared.

"You'll do great." His smile was now matching hers.

Clarke peeked in to discover that the atmosphere was now a lot lighter than it was when she stepped away earlier. Bellamy Blake had that effect. She had caught the last bit of their conversation and knew they were going to be able to catch the murderer. "Bell are you ready to head back?" She watched him back away from the bed and placed himself next to her. He looked at her and nodded. "We should be back later with a book for you to look at so you can make a positive identification."

She nodded to confirm Clarke's statement before watching the two leave.

When they were leaving Clarke nudged Bellamy with her elbow "You did a really good job back there." She smiled at him letting him know just how much she admired him at that moment.

"What did the doctor say?"

Clarke cleared her throat before speaking. "The doctor said that the damage on the inside is just as bad if not worse than the outside. They want her to stay overnight for observation."

It was clear that this information bothered him, it bothered her too. She used it as fuel to her fire, all the more reason to catch the son-of-a-bitch behind all this as soon as possible.

 

* * *

 

The car ride back to the precinct was silent for the first few minutes. Every so often Bellamy would take his eyes off the scenery passing by and look over at Clarke. He could tell she was deep in thought by the way her brow furrowed. He so badly wanted to find the right words to say, words to put her at ease, everything he had thought of just didn't sound right. 

“I almost became a doctor you know,” she stated hoping to fill the silence and distract her from the case even if for a moment.

Bellamy looked to Clarke with eyebrows raised in shock. “Almost a doctor huh? What made you change your mind?”

She smiled faintly as the image of Wells Jaha popped into her head “My best friend Wells actually,” she let out a small sigh as she continued to keep her gaze on the road “he was murdered about 10 years ago. I didn’t handle it well at first, I didn’t know who I was without him. After my dad died Wells was the only person I could count on and then suddenly he was just gone. So I wanted to channel my anger into finding who did it. The day after his funeral I enrolled in the academy.”

In the 3 years that Bellamy had shadowed Clarke he had never seen her this vulnerable, sure they talked about their personal lives from time to time but this was different. For the first time, Bellamy truly saw Clarke. “Did you ever find who was responsible?”

A quick glance spared in Bellamy’s direction and he had his answer. “No, after a certain point the case started to consume me. It was all I thought about and all I worked on outside of work for years. I barely ate or slept, I was becoming a shell of who I was. It took a while but I put the file away and started taking care of myself again.”

He sent a reassuring nod in her direction when she glanced at him once more. He was stuck in his head up until the moment she spoke as they were stepping into the elevator. "When we get upstairs I want you to assist the guys. I am going to try and question McCreary alone, see what I can get out of him so we can get a warrant to search his place." The bell sounded as they arrived at their designated floor. They both walked out at the same time. Clarke called out to a uniformed officer to bring Paxton McCreary into interrogation Room 1.

The team watched as uniforms escorted McCreary into the interrogation room and Clarke joined. After she shut the door Bellamy looked over at the murder board trying to find something that would tie McCreary to the murder so that they could get a search warrant. He turned from the board and looked over to the guys "Hey Murphy, where there any cameras in the building?" Murphy got up from his seat and walked over to where Bellamy was standing. "No, none. But we can search street cams and see if we can catch him coming out of the building after the murder." He started to walk back over to his desk.

Diyoza popped her head out of her office and walked over to Miller's desk just as he was hanging up the phone. "Detective Miller where are we at on the case?" He was just finishing up scribbling something down on his notepad before he looked up and made eye contact with the Captain.

"I just got off the phone with someone in the gang unit and they gave me a few more names of the guys in Paxton McCreary's crew. I cross-referenced their names with the list of people we have that carry the same weapon that was used on our vic. Along with McCreary's name, I found a handful of his crew members too." Miller handed the list over to Diyoza so she could look over the names he had circled.

She skimmed over the list before handing it back to Miller. "You and Det. Murphy split up to go question these guys and see what they know." After Diyoza gave her orders to them she began to turn around and head back into her office.

"Actually…." Bellamy caught Diyoza’s attention before she could walk away. She turned around to look at him and it was no surprise that the look on her face was a look of annoyance. She didn't say a word, instead, she let Bellamy finish his thought. "Clarke and I were going to have the victim's sister identify the guys who beat her up. If we do that first that might narrow down the people we have to question, save us some time." Bellamy just stood there waiting for any kind of response from the Diyoza, knowing full well that there was a 100% chance that she would shoot his idea down without thinking twice. Everyone in the room was very surprised to hear her give orders for them to take a book down to the hospital to narrow down their suspects. For a moment he thought he saw a slight smile of approval but in a nanosecond, it was gone. Diyoza returned to her office and the boys headed down to the hospital.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to comment or leave kudos! It puts a smile on my face!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Be well, be kind :)

Clarke walked into the interrogation room ready to break Paxton McCreary. She placed a file on the metal table that contained all of the suspect's information. She sat down in the chair across from him and leaned back, folded her arms across her chest and stared him directly in the eye, challenging him. "So before we brought you in you said you didn't know anything about the threats that were being made against Chris Woods. I find that very odd considering we have a witness who claims otherwise. So how about you start telling me the truth, Paxton." 

She had obviously been through similar interrogations but that didn't mean she sometimes had trouble keeping her cool. She wouldn't let him win, not anymore. His eyes were cold as he looked back at her. The standoff between the two had started as he leaned back in his seat. He wasn't budging which meant she needed to try a different approach. She walked over to the door of the interrogation room, opened it up and discreetly gave orders to a uniform outside. After she closed the door she leaned up against the wall and waited.

They had been enduring in a staring contest for quite some time before the sound of her phone ringing echoed in the room. After she answered she didn't do much talking to whoever was on the other side of the line. The phone call was short and before she hung up all she said was "Great you can just bring it all back to the precinct. Thanks." She was not the type of cop to get physically rough with a suspect and she didn't think charming him and flirting would really get her anywhere. The only tactic left was to just sit down and talk. No railroading him with questions or raising her voice. She sat across from him once again and leaned forward closing in on the distance between them. "Listen, Mr. McCreary, I know you were threatening Chris Woods, I know you killed him and I know you had your crew jump his sister. So why don't you just start out by telling me what happened."

It was clear that Clarke was not the only one who had been in situations similar to this. McCreary's record was proof of that. "Well, all there is to tell is that I met him in lock up and after he got out he started doing business for me. Nothing more to say." He shrugged "But just for fun let's say I did threaten him, hypothetically. If I did, I had a good reason to."

Clarke nodded because she was finally getting somewhere. The overly confident suspects were one of the easiest to break. You just had to fluff up their ego a little bit. "Really? What might that reason have been, if you were hypothetically threatening him?"

"Well with Chris working for me business was good. He had that pretty boy look to him that drew all the rich kids in. One night maybe Chris doesn't watch his back and he gets jumped. The guys take my merchandise and getaway. Guys in my crew know what happens if they lose their stash." He shifted in his seat. "So maybe I threatened him, hypothetically, but I didn't kill him, I got an alibi."

"What alibi would that be?" He was walking himself into a trap and there was no way Clarke was going to stop him.

He had a coy smile as he gave up his alibi "I was with my boys when Chris was killed. You can ask them."

_ Got him.  _ Clarke thought. "Were you now? I find that hard to believe since your alibi happens to be on your payroll, not to mention that I never mentioned the time of death so the only way you would know when it happened would be if you were there." She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest.

He thought he could play this game better than her but he was very wrong. "So I guess you got me huh? Well then I should tell you I warned Chris what would happen if he couldn't pay me back, I told him that both he and his sister would pay. I would have gone easier on him if he hadn't been trying to skip out on me."

"So you killed him because he wanted to leave town before he paid you back." She wasn't asking because she already knew the answer.

He leaned in close to her giving a smug look because he thought at that moment that he had won. "Too bad you can't prove it."

Right at that moment, there was a subtle and quiet knock on the door. Clarke got up and opened the door slightly. It was the smoking gun she needed to convict the son-of-a-bitch. With the bag of evidence in her hand, she walked over back to the metal table where McCreary was handcuffed. She placed the bag on the table in his line of sight. She looked at him as he was looking at the evidence. "That's where you're wrong. Uniforms just got back from searching through your place. Don't worry about a warrant, they had probable cause. They seemed to find some very interesting things, a shirt with what I’m willing to bet is Chris’ blood." She didn't wait for him to explain any of it. She just continued on. "For someone on parole, you seemed to have a lot of weapons that violate your restrictions. The weapon used to kill Chris was in there too. My guess is we are going to find your prints on the weapon along with Chris' blood. Now I think would be a good time to confess." She stood straight up and watched as he hung his head down. She didn't wait for him to try and pile on another fabrication. She just walked out of the room.

She was greeted by Bellamy, Diyoza, Miller, and Murphy. Also among the group was the victim's younger sister Madi. She walked over and mentioned how McCreary would be going away for a long time and that though he hadn't confessed yet there was no doubt that he would try in an attempt to cut a deal. Diyoza gave one big congratulation to the group. She didn't look at Bellamy but it was evident that she was slowly softening up to him, just not completely yet.

Clarke looked over to Madi. She was still pretty bruised but she looked a little better than she had the last time she saw her. "So I see you are out and well. I thought the doctors wanted to keep you overnight?"

Madi just smiled, "Well they did but Bellamy convinced them to let me go after  _ I _ convinced him I wouldn't i.d. the guys you were looking for unless he did." She adjusted the sling around her neck and right arm in an effort to get more comfortable, though that seemed to be impossible.

The group chuckled. "You let a 15-year-old girl manipulate you?"

Bellamy was just speechless. He attempted to voice some sort of explanation but nothing, no extravagant story could mask the fact he indeed let a 15-year-old girl manipulate him.

 

* * *

 

Diyoza had gone back into her office so it was now just the three detectives and two civilians. All laughing together, but for a short while, the laughing had stopped as uniforms were walking Paxton McCreary over to processing. The murderer and the uniformed officer had not made it far before Madi walked up to them. She had a coy smile knowing that he was going to jail where he belonged. "You killed my brother." Murphy stepped closer but did not interfere. "I hope that when you are laying in your cell each night my brother's face haunts you, haunts you for the rest of your pathetic life! And you better pray that I don't find you if you get out, because if I do I will make sure you get what you deserve and you will be begging me for mercy." Just at that moment before she could say anything else Murphy grabbed her left arm to pull her back so that the officer could get McCreary to processing. Her eyes never left him; even as he was out of her line of sight.

"So let's hope we don't ever see you again," Murphy said as he smiled and placed his hands in his pockets.

"Well hopefully with any luck you won't. I plan to use my manipulative charm" she emphasized looking towards Bellamy "on my social worker and see if I can move to Connecticut. It was one of my brother's favorite places. I don't know why but it was."

There was a silence among the group, which was quickly gone as Madi Woods' social worker walked up. She informed them that she was there to take the young girl and place her back in foster care. The look on her face was what you would expect from someone who was going back into foster care. Before she left she looked at everyone and thanked them for finding her brother’s killer and putting him away. They all smiled and waved good-bye.

Miller and Murphy grabbed their stuff and went on their way home after saying goodnight to Bellamy and Clarke. Not long after the pair exited the precinct as well. They were standing outside and before Bellamy had gotten a chance to say goodnight Clarke intervened. "You were really good with the victim's sister; I don't think we would have been able to seal the case without you." She smiled in response to his smile. "This was a particularly long case what do you say we end it with a few drinks?"

He waved his arm in motion for her to take lead. As she began to walk, he subtly gave her his arm as he escorted her down to the Dropship.

 

* * *

 

After an hour or so of knocking back drinks and sharing funny stories, they had both noticed it was near the last call at the Dropship. They had both come to the realization that neither of them was ready to call it a night. "What do you say we make this a real date by grabbing a bite to eat?"

Bellamy was stunned at first that she was acknowledging him as someone she would like to go out on a date with, in public, out loud. He didn't question her about 'why now', he didn't want to ruin this moment with any explanations. All he wanted was to take the woman he loved out for a bite. "I thought you'd never ask." He accompanied his answer with a charming boyish smile as he paid for their drinks and went on their way.

Neither of them was drunk but also not sober enough to drive they decided that a walk with fresh air would be just what they needed. He didn't really want to bring up the case but he could tell Clarke was thinking about it. "You did a really good job handling everything with this case. I know it probably wasn't easy."

Clarke looked over at Bellamy and smiled at his attempt to reassure her that there was no reason for her to be feeling this way. "Oh, I just- I can't help but feel a little bad. The victim's sister is going right back into foster care where she obviously didn't want to be. When I was a rookie I used to deal with quite a few foster care kids who would get into trouble and the system is no place for any kid."

Bellamy did his best to comfort her but there was no way he had any idea what to say. Situations like this just didn't come naturally to him "She will be okay. From what we both saw in the precinct and on the roof the other day I think it is safe to say she will be just fine on her own." He looked into her eyes trying to believe the words he said himself. His words were not a fact because he did not know for sure, his words were only meant for comfort and that is all that he could hope they did.

"But no one should have to be alone, especially at that age." She so badly wanted to believe his words to be true and she wanted more than anything for them to put her at ease but that simply was not the kind of person she was.

 

* * *

 

They arrived at the restaurant and placed themselves in a booth while waiting for a server to assist them. The atmosphere around them was somewhat rustic. Just by sitting in a seat you could feel the history and the stories it had known.

Clarke looked across at Bellamy; he was looking through his menu. Every so often as he would look up her eyes would flicker in another direction, like playing tag, kids playing tag. After all, she had always spoken of him in childlike references, why should now be any different? When the waitress came over Clarke was quickly skimming over the menu. She had been staring at Bellamy so much she hadn't had much opportunity to actually think about what she wanted to eat. Bellamy took note and ordered for the two of them. The waitress took their menus and left them.

Neither were very comfortable in this date setting, they were so used to just being partners, friends, that neither knew how to act date like around each other. Most of the time waiting for their food was spent with glances and smiles up until their waitress came by with the burgers and fries Bellamy had ordered for both of them.

After they had finished their food they continued their conversation that Clarke had started in between bites. They ended up spending another hour just sitting there talking. They had finally reached a rhythm before Bellamy noticed the time. He offered to walk Clarke to the subway station. She accepted, he paid and they began to walk out.

She had no idea who on earth would be calling this late, technically early, but when she heard the other person speak the smile she was previously wearing seemed to fade away with each passing second. After she hung up she paused for a moment trying to absorb all the information. Bellamy could tell nothing good had come from that phone conversation; he was trying not to push.

"The victim's sister, she uh, she ran off. That was the social worker; she asked if I would help find her." She looked over at Bellamy. She didn't have to speak, her eyes told him that she had to go out and look. He didn't protest, he only offered to drive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know your thoughts!
> 
> You can find me on tumblr @shaeheda


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again friends! Here's a new chapter and I hope you enjoy it!

They drove along Broadway and West 60th rethinking every possible scenario. Ideas were thrown around out loud and no matter what they came up with nothing seemed to fit, not that there were any specific criteria to follow, Madi Woods was very unpredictable. They were held up at a light when Clarke spoke once again "You spent some time with her at the hospital, did she say anything that hinted where she would go or if there was anyone she could stay with?"

Bellamy looked over at Clarke, sadness and worry etched into his face. He was replaying everything, every detail and every word that was spoken. The car behind him broke his thought when their honk had informed him the light had turned green. He didn't say anything as he drove with the flow of traffic around Columbus Circle until he was on West 59th. After a while, Clarke couldn't stand the mystery any longer and she finally asked Bellamy where they were going. "Grand Central." He smiled.

"Bell you realize that the social worker has already sent a few uniforms that way, it is standard procedure when there’s a runaway." She leaned back and rested her head against the seat.

"Oh, ye of little faith. We know something they don't. We know where she is going." He smiled even bigger with confidence. "We just have to hope we get there before she's gone."

She lifted her head from the seat and looked over at him with genuine confusion. "Just how is it that you know where she is going?" As he spoke, she began to remember the earlier events that took place at the precinct where Madi had mentioned something about moving to Connecticut because of how much her brother loved it there.

Clarke muttered something very subtlety, but loud enough so that Bellamy was able to hear what she said the first time. It was not something that she wanted to repeat. "Genius? Did I just hear you call me a Genius?" Before he got the chance to tease her about it for the remainder of the ride as he had wanted to she informed him that if ever spoken about again she would deny it. He simply nodded in agreement, deciding it was best not to protest this one seeing as they had more important things to worry about. His smile remained on his face for the entire car ride to Grand Central.

 

* * *

 

After arriving at the train station they both immediately rushed into the nearest customer service desk asking when the next train for Connecticut was leaving and from what terminal. Clarke and Bellamy both pushed their way through the crowd trying to make their way to terminal 11. Once they spotted her neither of them moved. They had no idea what either of them was going to say or do, they didn't think that far ahead.

For a moment neither of them moved, but there is a surge inside her forcing her to walk towards the bench where the girl is sitting. Bellamy had an idea of his own to call the social worker. "Hey," Clarke said softly to ensure that she wouldn't startle Madi. She wasn't startled; instead she just calmly turned around as if she were expecting the company.

There was a hint of a smirk behind her smile when she saw who it was. She let out a deep sigh and then turned back around, facing forward as she spoke. "What are you doing here?" She kept her eyes focused on a phone booth that was off in the distance. Clarke kept her hand on the back of the bench as she walked around to the front asking if she could sit. Madi did not take her eyes off the phone booth, she grabbed her backpack and moved it into her lap accepting Clarke's request.

"I came here because I-I thought that I would be able to stop you from making a mistake." She narrowed her gaze in hopes that the girl could see how serious she was. 

Madi toughened up her posture by folding her arms across her chest and placing one leg over the other. "Well, you wasted your time because my train leaves in about 45 minutes and I'm not going to miss it." She took in a deep breath "This city has taken everything from me. I have nothing now, no parents, my brother…" She looked over at Clarke "My brother was the last thing I had and now he's gone too, so there is nothing here for me.”

Clarke smiled to herself and looked down at the ground as she nervously fidgeted with her hands. "When I was about your brother’s age, just a little bit younger actually, I had someone taken from me, my best friend. After, I almost lost myself. I've spent a long time trying to make sense of his death, trying to put away the guy responsible and I have gotten really close." She turned to face Clarke once again "I have learned a lot of things from being a detective, one of the most important things being that running away only gets rid of your problems for a short period of time. Eventually, the things you run from suddenly end up catching up to you. There are always lessons in life experiences; you just have to be open to finding them."

Madi's posture was noticeably more vulnerable "So what? I stay in the city where I am constantly reminded that everyone I have ever cared about is gone, get put into a foster home that is just as bad if not worse than the last? There is no happily ever after in foster care. It is just something we tell ourselves to get by."

Clarke held her eye contact with Madi "I'm going to be here for you to make sure you get put into a good home." She smiled to give the young girl hope but she noticed that their eye contact had broken. She turned around to find the social worker standing next to Bellamy with a uniformed officer. Once she turned back Madi was already standing up to put her bag around her shoulders. She could try to outrun them, she’d been successful once and no doubt could be again, but there was a feeling that started to sink into her stomach. How would she survive in Connecticut? Her brother was always the strong one, and the more she thought about it the more it became clear that she couldn’t survive on her own, couldn’t survive without him.

Before walking away Madi muttered something to Clarke. "That's what the social worker always says before she dumps me at some shit hole." She left before giving Clarke the chance to assure her that she had every intention of keeping her word.

Bellamy walked up to Clarke with both hands in his pockets. As they both watched her walk away he removed one of his hands from his pockets and placed it on her shoulder gently. It went unnoticed as she was zoned in on trying to decipher what was being said between the young girl and her social worker. Bellamy attempted once again to get her attention "You were great with her you know? I think she’ll be okay because she has you in her corner" Clarke looked over and responded with a Mona Lisa type smile as she inched closer towards him. His hand moved from one shoulder to the other as his arm wrapped around her. Her smile faded as she caught the last of the conversation that was happening just a short distance in front of her.

As the conversation went on Madi straightened up to appear tougher to those around her. "You are going to have to go back to Sunnyvale Home for Girls until I am able to find a suitable foster home for you," Madi said nothing; she only rolled her eyes out of frustration and began to walk after the social worker had motioned for them to leave.

Bellamy had motioned for them to leave as well. Clarke's words "Wait!" went unheard be everyone except for Bellamy. She called out once more, leaving him behind. She quickened her step to catch up to the group. All three of the people standing in front of her were waiting for her to make her statement, but for a moment the air hung dry with no words spoken. Clarke had no idea what was coming over her at that moment, other than she felt it was something that needed to be done for Madi, or maybe even herself. She didn't keep them waiting any longer because if she had she might have chickened out.

"She can stay with me."

 

* * *

 

The car ride was nothing but awkward silence; no one knew what to say. So when Bellamy had pulled up in front of Clarke's building there was a certain feeling of relief in the atmosphere. All three of them got out of the car. Bellamy decided he wanted to escort both of them upstairs to Clarke's apartment.

Clarke unlocked the door and allowed Madi inside. “Make yourself at home, I’ll be in in a second.” She softly shut it for a quick moment alone with Bellamy. "Well, I think  I’ll take my coffee with extra shots of espresso. I don't think I’ll be able to get any sleep before work." 

She looked down at the watch on her wrist. She then smiled and looked up at Bellamy as if to thank him for how helpful he was, for the case and with all that had gone on in the last twelve hours. She was truly thankful for having him by her side.

"I’ll make sure to get you extra caffeine." He smiled at her "What you did tonight, I have to say, was really unexpected."

She nodded in compliance with his statement because what she did was definitely unexpected. "I don't even really know what came over me. I guess some of the things she said to me when we were sitting on that bench at the train station just really got to me I guess." Clarke had her brow furrowed still trying to figure out just exactly why she agreed to take the young girl in. She had given Bellamy advice about Octavia plenty of times, but actually taking care of a teenager was an entirely different task to take on, one that she wasn't sure she was qualified to do.

The doubt started to creep in. “Do you think I made a mistake? I don’t know anything about taking care of kids, let alone a teenager.”

It was if Bellamy could sense her worry because he spoke softly and ensured her just how amazing she was. "Thinking about it now and all the ways you have helped Octavia I guess it isn't that surprising. You have been a really great role model for O and I know you will be the same for Madi. I don’t think you made a mistake."

She just chuckled to herself. As Bellamy spoke she began to recount the times she had been there for Octavia and it really wasn't as surprising. "Thanks, Bell, that means a lot." She smiles at him as she puts one hand on the doorknob ready to say goodnight and walk inside. Instead of turning the knob she just stands there waiting, looking at him.

He felt it. His instinct took over as he leaned in and gave her a soft kiss on her cheek that holds so much meaning; neither of them knows what to say once he backs away. Everything about the gesture was sweet, gentle and heart-warming. Clarke tries to mutter something but her words are lost. "Bell…" They both know that this kind of moment shouldn't be ruined by explanations or by over analyzations. "Goodnight princess." He flashed a charming smile before he turned around to go back downstairs to his car, go home and spend the rest of the morning unable to think about anything other than what just happened.

 

* * *

 

When he walked in he had looked over at the clock on the wall and realized the time. Just enough of it was left for him to shower, get ready, grab some coffee for him and Clarke and head to the precinct.

After his shower, he went downstairs to find Octavia in the kitchen eating breakfast. She was taken aback by his extra chipper attitude. "You seem unusually chipper this morning. Did you have a late-night with Clarke last night?" she looked at him with raised eyebrows and an expectant smirk. 

Normally when Octavia teased him about Clarke he would come up with a sarcastic retort, but he was still in a daze from kissing her on the cheek moments earlier and currently, he had nothing. "Somewhat, but it isn't what you think, O. Everyone from the precinct went out from some drinks after work, but it ended up getting cut short because a girl from the case we just closed went missing. We spent the remainder of the night searching for her." He knew that there was a chance Octavia would be able to tell that he was lying, or at least partially lying, but he was far too tired to deal with the interrogation that would have come with telling the truth. Quickly he grabbed an apple for breakfast and headed out the door after saying good-bye to his sister.

 

* * *

 

Soon after showering and getting ready she realized that there wasn't actually much edible food in her apartment. She had meant to go grocery shopping at some point this week but, as time usually does, it got away from her. She realized she was even more unprepared to take care of a teenager than she previously thought. After a while of searching, she found a box of bran flakes in a cupboard and about a half carton of milk in the fridge. As she was pulling some bowls off of a shelf Madi walked into the kitchen. "Hey, um, I know it probably isn't your first choice for breakfast but it was pretty much the only edible thing I had, so I hope it's okay."

Madi looked down at the box of cereal as Clarke placed a bowl and spoon in front of her. "Oh no, it's fine. I've never really had time to eat breakfast before anyways, so my standards are pretty low." She smiled and filled here bowl with cereal and milk.

While they ate there was an awkward silence that filled the kitchen. Clarke had attempted to break the silence. "So I am not sure exactly what the protocol is here, but I know we will have to go to social services and get things sorted out… if you wanted to stay here until they find you a more permanent home or you could see what other options you have." She looked at her cautiously and waited for Madi to say something in return.

"Well I know I've already caused a lot of trouble and I wouldn't want to make things any more difficult than they already have been for you or anyone else. My future includes crappy homes in foster care and that is just something I have to accept." She was finished with her breakfast and walked over to the sink to wash her bowl out.

Clarke took her last bite and waited for Madi to finish washing her bowl out before placing hers in the sink. She turned to face her. "I meant what I said earlier about making sure you get put into a good home."

Nothing else was said by either of them. Madi just gave Clarke a sympathetic smile and she returned it with a more hopeful smile. Both grabbed their coats and headed for the subway station.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments and kudos are appreciated!
> 
> if you ever want to find me on tumblr it's @shaeheda


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are again... with another chapter. I'm not really sure is anyone likes this story let alone is reading it, but if you are reading this I hope you like this chapter!

Clarke had managed to schedule an appointment with Madi’s social worker for later that afternoon, so for the time being Madi sat in an empty desk chair across from Clarke doing her best to keep occupied.

A small whisper sarcastically chastising her began to get louder ‘ _ you brought a teenager to a police station, you’re doing a great job so far. _ ’ louder ‘ _ you barely take care of yourself so what makes you think you can take care of another person? _ ’ louder ‘ _ you can’t- _ ’ 

Bellamy’s voice cut through the noise in her mind, a welcomed relief. ‘Hey! Here is your latte, extra caffeine just as you requested.’ she could feel the tension in her shoulders eased as he smiled at her. His smile was her favorite thing about him, well one of her favorite things about him. She had a growing list but there was no way she would dare tell him that, his ego was doing just fine without that little bit of information.

The silence caught Madi’s attention as she looked up at the pair to see what had halted the conversation. She observed them staring at each other for a brief moment. She awkwardly got up from her chair, the legs screeching against the linoleum floor pulling Bellamy and Clarke out of their hypnosis “I’m gonna grab some coffee.” a hint of confusion in her voice to match the look of confusion on her face. To anyone else it might have seemed weird but, to Bellamy and Clarke, these staring instances happened often so it really wasn’t all that weird for them anymore.

That seemed to break the spell Bellamy and Clarke were under. Both muttering incoherent phrases and trying to busy themselves.

As Clarke was completing the paperwork for Madi’s brother’s case she heard Murphy’s shocked tone “Back so soon? That manipulative charm you spoke of must need some work if you’re still here.” 

An annoyed roll of the eyes from Madi was sent in Murphy’s direction. “Are you sure you want to drink coffee? It only stunts your growth and you’re already pretty short hobbit.”

The thing about Murphy was that he liked to tease everyone around them. Everyone in the precinct had grown used to his antics. It was his way of getting a read on people and that’s what he was doing with Madi. 

She looked up at him from the chair she had sat back down in, face neutral. “I don't think that was as funny as you were intending it to be.”

As hard as he tried he couldn’t get a read on her, so he decided to keep teasing. “Oh it was very funny, you just obviously don’t have a sense of humor.” he made his way back to his desk after receiving a very unimpressed look from Clarke.

Madi kicked her feet onto the empty desk in front of her “Sure, if that helps you sleep at night.” he could hear the light tone in her voice and even though his back was turned to her and likely hers to him he could tell she had a playful smirk plastered on her face. 

Before Clarke could step in Miller walked out of the elevator and to his desk. He stopped short of his chair before he noticed a new addition to their group. His brow furrowed as he glanced towards Clarke “What’s the kid doing here?”

Madi beat Clarke to answering his question “Clarke’s brain short-circuited and she volunteered to take care of me till I get a permanent placement.” as she took a sip of her coffee, eyes concentrated on her phone.

Clarke looked pointedly at Madi “That is not what happened.”

Of course at that point Murphy had to jump in “Sure if that helps you sleep at night.” he looked at Madi and gave her a wink in solidarity as she smiled back at him.

Clarke’s head snapped in Bellamy’s direction as he chuckled lightly. He had tried his best to stifle his laugh and give a shake of his head to Clarke as if to say ‘ _ You’re right that’s not funny. _ ’ but all he got in return from her was a roll of the eyes.

Before she knows it time has flown by and it’s time to leave and go meet Madi’s social worker.

“Alright Madi let’s head out,” she says as she stands up and grabs her jacket off the back of her chair

Madi lets out a huff of annoyance as she gathers her things.

Bellamy stands up and turns to Clarke “Do you need me to go? For moral support?”

He receives a coy smile from the blonde detective as she adjusts the collar of her jacket “Don’t you have writing to get done? You know deadlines and whatnot.”

Bellamy hangs his head in defeat because technically she’s right, he's got a deadline for next week for chapters he hasn’t even started on “You’re right, I’ll walk you guys out.”

 

* * *

 

“Clarke and Madi why don’t you come on back to my office.” the social worker greeted with a smile.

As they followed her back to her office Clarke couldn’t help but feel nervous. “Go ahead and take a seat.” the social worker motions to the two chairs opposite her desk.

“So Ms. Griffin-” 

“Please call me Clarke,” she responds with a small smile.

“Alright Clarke, I’m assuming you don’t have a fostering license?” she looked up from Madi’s file to Clarke waiting for her to answer.

Clarke shook her head “No, but I can get one, just tell me whatever you need from me and I’ll get started on it right away.”

The social worker took a moment to think things over before letting out a sigh “Well because you’re a detective you’ve already had a background check I can pull and your fingerprints are already on file. All that's left to do is fill out this application.” she said as she passed a packet across the desk to Clarke.

“Done.”

“I’ll need to talk to your boss, coworkers, and friends as well. So just write their names down for me and I’ll get in touch with them. I’ll also be by sometime next week to do a home inspection.” She looked at both of them before speaking again “But I don’t see why Madi can’t stay with you for the time being.”

Clarke smiled while Madi’s face was something more of disbelief  “Wait, really? I don’t have to go back to Sunnyvale?”

Her social worker smiled softly at her “No you don’t have to go back to Sunnyvale but, you will have to re-enroll in school.”

Madi let out a breath of relief “You got it! As long as I don’t have to go back there I’ll do whatever you want!”

After the social worker had laid out a few more ground rules for Clarke and Madi she smiled and bid them goodbye as they walked out. 

“So I know this probably isn’t the role model behavior that your social worker was talking about but, what do you think about playing hooky for the rest of the day and going to get some ice cream and junk food for a girls night in? I think we both deserve it.”

Madi smiled brightly up at Clarke feeling like she was on cloud 9. There was always that little voice in the back of her head telling her that her luck would run out and eventually this would be ruined, likely by her own doing. She decided for now that she would enjoy this while she could because it’s what her brother would want. She nodded at Clarke because there was no way she could turn down ice cream.

 

* * *

 

Madi was practically bouncing with excitement as they reached Clarke’s apartment. As Clarke retrieved her keys from her purse they heard a door slam. Both of them look over in the direction of the door slam in time to see a man carrying a duffle bag looking furious. As he passes by them Clarke contemplates if she should check on Raven or wait for her to come over when she’s ready.

Curiosity gets the better of her and she heads towards Raven’s apartment with Madi in tow. She knocks twice waiting for Raven to open the door.

A string of curses came from inside Raven’s apartment and as she opened the door her face softened as she realized it wasn’t Finn on the other side but instead Clarke and a young girl. Raven sighed with relief at the sight of Clarke and as she glanced over at the young girl her brows furrowed. 

“This is Madi, she’s staying with me until her social worker finds her a home,” she said after taking note of Raven’s confusion. 

Raven stepped aside and let both of them into her apartment. They make their way to the couch so that she can tell Clarke what happened with Finn. Madi walks around Raven’s living room taking note of all the awards that are on display.

Clarke can see the faint tear streaks on Raven’s face “He cheated on me. That bastard cheated on me and tried to say that it was my fault. Can you believe that? We were together for 2 years and he just throws it away like it was nothing.”

Reaching in the grocery bag next to her feet Clarke pulled out the container of ice cream and smiles at Raven.

Raven went into the kitchen and came back with three spoons. As soon as she sat down she took one of the spoons and dug into the ice cream container.

“What did he say?” Clarke said before grabbing a spoon to get a bite of ice cream as well.

Raven swallowed and braced herself “He said I work too much, that I wasn’t spending enough time with him. I don’t know maybe he was right.” she said sounding defeated.

Madi looks over at the two seated on the couch “He looked like a douche. You dodged a bullet if you ask me.”

“Madi!” Clarke chastised her, to which she received a look from Madi that seemed to convey something along the lines of  ‘ _ What it’s true!’  _ and Clarke really couldn’t be mad at her because it was true.

From beside her Clarke could hear Raven chuckle. Madi points to the awards she was looking at moments earlier “You are obviously way too good for him anyway.”

Raven smiles brightly feeling instantly better.

The three of them continue the night by finishing the ice cream and watching bad horror movies until Madi had fallen asleep halfway through the second film.

“I should probably get her over to my place, it’s getting late,” Clarke says as she looks over at the sleeping figure next to her.

Raven spares a glance at Madi “You guys could stay?” she says shakily “She could stay on the couch and my bed is big enough for the both of us, please? I don’t really want to be alone right now.”

Clarke takes one last look at Madi before placing a blanket over her. She turns to Raven “Okay.”

 

* * *

 

“Am I going to have to put your phone away and lock you in a room with your computer so that you’ll finally get some writing done?” Octavia had said with eyebrows raised

He had been checking his phone on and off for the past 3 hours wondering if he would hear from Clarke, maybe with an update on how the appointment with the social worker went, but hear from her nonetheless. “I’m writing,” he said pointedly

She crossed her arms challenging him “Right, it’s not like I haven’t seen you check your phone like 20 times in the last 15 minutes.”

He looked up at Octavia unimpressed “Don’t you have plans with Niylah? Or I don’t know literally anything else to do?” 

She laughed knowing she had gotten under his skin. His unwillingness to admit his feelings for Clarke was always fun to tease him about and in fact had become most of their conversations as of late. 

“You know you could just text her yourself.” She said as she put a kettle of water on the stove to boil.

He quickly glanced up at Octavia and spotted a smirk forming on her face. He knew she was right, he just didn’t want to give her that satisfaction. He put his phone screen down onto the kitchen island top and began to focus on trying to write. It was useless. He made a quick grab for his phone and composed a quick text to Clarke, pressing send before he gave himself too much time to analyze it.

Even though her back was turned to him, grabbing some tea packets out of the cupboard, she let out a chuckle when she heard the tapping of his phone keyboard and not the one on the computer. He was hopeless.

The kettle began to whistle just as Octavia was grabbing 2 mugs off the hooks underneath the cupboards. She quickly removed the kettle from its heat source and began to pour the water into the mugs. She set the kettle down and put the tea bags into the steaming ceramic mugs. She placed one of the mugs in front of Bellamy before she let out a sigh. “Some people might start to think Clarke is less writing inspiration and more of a distraction.”

“Some people should mind their business.” He looked at her with a serious expression

Octavia leaned in close over the countertop “All I’m saying is that you’ve been shadowing her for over three years Bell. You’ve got enough material to write one hundred books, so why are you sticking around?”

He seriously contemplated the answer to her question. They both knew why he still shadowed Clarke, but he didn’t think he could admit it out loud, at least not yet, “It’s become something more, O. I don’t know when it happened but at some point along the way she became someone important to me, more than just inspiration for my next book series.”

“You should tell her that, she deserves to know,” she says softly giving her brother a look of sympathy. She had never really seen him this far gone for someone before. The closest he had ever gotten was with Gina, but even then it was never this bad.

Deep down he knew she was right, Clarke did deserve to know. It’s not that he didn’t want to tell her, he did. He just wasn’t sure if he was ready for how things would change if he did tell her because things would change inevitably. He liked the way things were, he got to see her smile whenever he threw out a ridiculous theory, he got to see her help people get closure whenever they closed a case, and he got to see all the best parts of her every day. He wasn’t quite ready to give that up if it turned out she didn’t feel the same way and their partnership had to end.

“It’s not that simple, O. She’s got a lot going on, she just took in a foster kid. I don’t want to overwhelm her.” It was half true, she did have a lot going on at the moment, but he was also scared and that wasn’t something he wanted to voice.

She straightened her posture and took a sip of tea. “I’m not saying you have to do it right this second, but you should tell her soon. We both know what Marcus is like when you don’t get him your chapters on time,” she said with a slight chuckle. She walked around the kitchen island to stand beside him. “She’d be crazy not to love you back. You’re an amazing guy Bellamy.” She placed a kiss to his temple “I love you, big brother.”

He smiled at her as she walked upstairs to her room “I love you too, O.”

Just as he was about to turn his attention back to his laptop his phone chimed, distraction indeed.

**Bellamy:**

_ Hey, hope the meeting with the _

_ social worker went okay.  _

_ Let me know if you guys need anything. _

 

**Clarke:**

_ Everything went well. Just got some ice _

_ cream before we head back home and _

_ watch movies. _

 

**Bellamy:**

_ Ice cream and movies? It sounds like _

_ quite the celebration.  _

_ I’m glad everything went well. _

 

**Clarke:**

_ Yeah me too. Madi deserves some _

_ good news.  _

 

**Clarke:**

_ So turns out my neighbor’s bf  _

_ cheated on her so we’re at her place _

_ watching really bad horror movies _

 

**Bellamy:**

_ the NASA engineer? _

 

**Clarke:**

_ That’s the one! _

 

**Bellamy:**

_ She sounds too good for him  _

_ Anyways. _

 

**Clarke:**

_ Madi said something similar. _

_ She actually said he looked like _

_ a douche and then told Raven _

_ she was too good for him. _

 

**Bellamy:**

_ She sounds like a smart kid. _

_ I’ll let you go and enjoy the _

_ rest of your night. _

 

**Clarke:**

_ She is, I’ll definitely have my hands full. _

__

**Clarke:**

_ Get back to writing! I distinctly  _

_ remember you mentioning something  _

_ about a deadline approaching _

 

**Bellamy:**

_ Yeah, Octavia already grilled _

_ me for not writing earlier. _

_ Have a good night princess. _

_ Let me know if you guys need  _

_ Anything. _

 

**Clarke:**

_ Will do. Thanks, Bell! _

 

Talking to her seemed to put him at ease and before he knew it, his fingers were flying across the keyboard of his laptop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always you can find me on Tumblr @shaeheda


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all, sorry it's been so long since I've updated this... I really don't have an explanation other than there aren't enough hours in the day. 
> 
> I'll be honest, I don't really know where this story is going, I had a vague idea but have since decided to scrap it because I'm not really happy with the story the way it is now. I won't abandon this story because I'm not a quitter... I just need to figure out how where I want the story to go from here.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

It took a moment for Raven to wake up after she first registered the smell of bacon. As she walked out of her bedroom and towards her kitchen she tried to rub the sleep from her eyes. She saw Madi had begun to stir from the couch and the events from last night suddenly came flooding back.

Madi let out a yawn that seemed to catch Clarke’s attention. “Oh good, you’re both up! I figured after the less than nutritious dinner last night we could make up for it with a balanced breakfast.” Clarke could tell that neither of them was fully awake yet “I made bacon, eggs, and toast. I also cut up some fruit and there is a fresh pot of coffee on.” she said as she took a sip from her mug

That seemed to snap both of them out of their zombie-like state as they both made a b-line for the coffee.

“So since it’s Friday, Madi I figured we could go down to the school nearby and get you all registered to start on Monday.” Clarke took a sip of her coffee while she peaked at Madi over the top of her cup.

She rolled her eyes and let out a huff of frustration in response. Madi had almost regretted telling her social worker that she would happily go back to school. The reason she worked night shifts was that she was far from a morning person. The thought of getting up early to go to school every day was daunting.

“I guess this means I’ll have to tell Tom I can’t work at the diner anymore?” she didn’t really mean for it to come out as a question but she held out hope that maybe Clarke would let her keep working, anything to keep her distracted from thinking about her brother or the fact she was surrounded by too much good and knew that at some point soon it would be taken away.

Clarke had given her an unamused look. “He was paying you under the table, not to mention I’m willing to bet you didn’t fill out the proper working papers for someone your age. I’m a cop, I can’t knowingly let you work illegally. Be glad I haven’t had the place shut down.”

Raven looked up from her eggs and turned to Madi “Besides shouldn’t someone your age be interested in joining sports or clubs? You have your whole adult life to worry about having a job. Be a kid.”

“I stopped being a kid when my parents died.” she snapped back. She let out a breath when she saw a flash of sadness on both their faces “I’m sorry, I just meant what is a club or a sport going to teach me about the real world? I age out of the system in three years and then I’m on my own. No school club or sport is going to help prepare me for that, having a job will.”

Clarke felt a twist in her gut as Madi looked at her pleadingly. “I’ll make you a deal, you get good grades for your first semester of school and then we can talk about you getting a job.”

Madi took a bite of her toast with a big smile on her face.

Clarke looked over in Raven’s direction “I was going to take Madi shopping after we are done at the school, get her a few necessities, you’re welcome to come with Raven.”

“I wouldn’t want to impose on your guys’ day together.” she takes her empty plate over to the sink

Madi jumps in before Clarke has a chance to answer “You wouldn’t be! I hear retail therapy is a great way to get over a boy, plus it’ll be nice to have someone around to gang up on Clarke with!”

Clarke gives Madi a mock offended gasp, to which Madi returns with a smile.

Raven chuckles “Alright, alright. You had me at retail therapy.” She started to grab the various pans and utensils Clarke had used to make breakfast and put them in the sink. “I’ll clean up here. You guys go ahead and head out, just text me when you’re done and I’ll meet you at the store.” 

Nearly bouncing with excitement Madi rushes out the door towards Clarke’s apartment with a quick ‘bye’ to Raven. Clarke just laughs as she puts a hand on Raven’s shoulder “See you later, Rae.”

 

* * *

 

Surprisingly Bellamy was able to finish the chapters he needed to get done as well as two extra chapters. He had sent them over to Kane late last night after taking one last look to make sure he was satisfied with what he had written.

He woke up to the persistent ringing of his phone. As he grabbed it off the nightstand he glanced at the screen to see it was Kane calling.  _ He must have already read the chapters. _

“Kane, do you ever sleep?” he said groggily

Kane chuckled in response “As your publisher, not sleeping is in my job description.” Bellamy could hear the rustling of papers and pounding keys on a keyboard “I wanted to talk to you about the chapters you sent over last night...”

He waits in anticipation for Kane to say something, anything. “Bellamy, this may be the best writing you have ever done!”

A chuckle escaped from the back of his throat “I think that’s the first compliment I’ve heard you give in the entire twelve years I’ve known you. I feel like I should mark this down in my calendar.”

He could tell Marcus was rolling his eyes “Yeah if you keep teasing me about it, it'll be the only compliment you ever get out of me. Look I don’t know what’s got you so inspired but keep it up!”

He thought fondly of a beautiful blonde with blue eyes and can’t help but smile. “Yeah I’ll keep that in mind,” he said with a light chuckle because of course, he would continue to shadow Clarke. He didn’t know what he would do if he wasn’t, or rather he didn’t want to think about that.

Kane was all business all the time so of course, there was barely a second of silence as he continued on, “We’ll need to discuss your book tour when you submit your next chapters so start thinking about any cities you may want to stop in.”

He used to love book tours, all the travel, and the women. It was every bachelor’s dream. Now he had Clarke, well he didn’t have her really but, she was in his life and now the thought of going on a book tour left a pit in his stomach.

“Bellamy? Earth to Bellamy?” He had forgotten that he was still on the phone with Kane. He shook his head to clear his thoughts

“Yeah, sorry I’m here. What were you saying?”

“I was saying I should have some cover options to you by next month.”

Bellamy was nodding along before realizing Kane couldn’t actually see him “Yeah okay sure.” his mind still reeling from the mention of the book tour he couldn’t stand to stay on the phone any longer “Look Kane I’ve gotta go, I’ll talk to you later.” as he was hanging up he could hear Kane vaguely mention something about when his next chapters were due but he couldn’t think about that now. 

He leaned back in his chair and tipped his head toward the ceiling. The way he figured it, he had 10 months before his book tour would likely start in June. Maybe he could talk his way out of it. He was usually able to talk his way into and out of various situations, though a book tour was part of his contract and it was unlikely he could get out of it but, he had to come up with something. 

 

* * *

 

Madi let out a frustrated groan. When she agreed to pick a club she had no idea it would be so hard, that Clarke would have so many stipulations. They had gone back and forth for the last fifteen minutes all because Madi had wanted to be the sophomore class treasurer. With one final huff of breath, Madi grabbed the sheet of paper and circled a new club and handed it back to the secretary before Clarke could veto her decision. 

“There, I chose the engineering club, now will you stop bugging me?”

A small snort came from Clarke. she signed the last form and gave the secretary a polite smile before leading Madi out of the office with a smile still plastered on her face.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing just, I’ll be the least of your problems once Raven finds out you joined the engineering club.”

Madi stopped and looked at her quizzically “What do you mean?” 

“Raven works for NASA, you choosing to join the engineering club will be like Christmas for her. She’ll be over the moon to teach you all sorts of things that she’s sure your teacher will be doing wrong.”

She seemed to ponder the idea for a moment before rolling her eyes and not saying another word.

Clarke smiled to herself before pulling her phone out to text Raven to meet them.

 

* * *

 

After taking two subways they were finally able to make their way out of the tunnel and walk towards the storefront where they could see Raven already waiting. As she saw them approach Raven held open the door to the shop. 

Once inside the store, Clarke grabbed a handbasket from beside the door and handed it to Madi. She pulled a folded piece of paper from her purse “Why don’t you go ahead and start heading towards the school supplies and we’ll meet you there.”

“You know I’m fifteen, not five right?” Madi doesn’t wait for Clarke to answer before she starts heading in the direction of the school supplies.

Raven lets a chuckle escaped her lips in amusement “She’s quite the handful isn’t she?”

As she lets out an exhausted sigh, Clarke reached for another handbasket just in case she stumbles upon anything she likes enough to want to buy “You have no idea. Getting her to choose a school club took twice as long as it should have.”

“What did she end up choosing.”

Both of them were leisurely walking through the aisles, taking their time to meet up with Madi. Clarke looked over at Raven with a slight smile “After about fifteen minutes of going back and forth with her she eventually choose the engineering club.” Out of the corner of her eye, Clarke saw Raven’s face light up with excitement. “I don’t know if it’s something she’s actually interested in or if she just chose it because she thought it would get me to shut up.” she stopped and turned to look at Raven “Just don’t get too crazy about it and scare her away please.”

The brunette threw her hands up in defense and let out a soft chuckle. “Finn came by to get the rest of his stuff today,” she said as she studied the items on the shelf next to her intensely.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Clarke offered. She knew Raven wasn’t the type to get all sappy and emotional but she offered her ear to listen should Raven decided she wanted to talk about it.

“As much as I would like to forget he ever existed, he was a big part of my life. For the longest time, he was the only family I had, I don’t really know what I’m going to do without him.” a brief moment of silence passed between the two as they continued walking down the aisles and eventually got to the school supplies where Madi was. “Hey kid, I hear you joined the engineering club?”

Clarke should have known that Raven wouldn’t want to dwell on her feelings for too long. She watched fondly as she and Madi searched through the aisle for the rest of the school supplies. All three of them made their way over to the home section of the store, Clarke had told Madi she could pick out a few things to make the spare bedroom a little homier. While Madi was looking at the lamps Clarke turned to Raven and spoke not knowing Madi could hear “Look, Raven, about what you said earlier, you know I’m here for you. Finn wasn’t your only family, you’ve got me too.” 

Madi looked over and could see Raven smiling at Clarke. Hearing Clarke tell Raven she was family gave her a bittersweet feeling. Raven was cool, she deserved a good family, and Clarke was good. She wished she could be apart of that and she could pretend that she was, Clarke made it so easy, but the reality was that she was on her own and she would never have a family again let alone someone as good as Clarke to call family. Before she got too much in her head, she walked over to Clarke and Raven with a plan in mind.

“Sounds like you both could use a night out,” Madi says nonchalantly

Clarke turns from Raven to look at the young girl “What?”

Madi shrugs “Isn’t that what adults do when everything is shitty? Go out, get drunk, and forget their problems for a night.”

“Okay, first of all, language. Second of all, what makes you think we need to go and get drunk to forget our problems?” Clarke tries her best to use a stern voice but as she continued to speak it faded and turned into something resembling confusion.

Madi chuckled as she looked at Raven “You can’t tell me that getting drunk and forgetting about your douchebag ex doesn’t sound like a good idea.” She could see Raven ponder the idea before she turned to Clarke “And you are too uptight, you could probably use a night out to let loose and relax.”

Raven leaned over to Clarke while still keeping her eyes on Madi in amusement. “She’s got a point” She threw her hands up in defense when she received a rather terrifying look from Clarke.

“I can’t just leave you alone by yourself, Madi”

She let out a sigh, she knew it was going to take some convincing to get Clarke to agree. “I’m willing to bet both of you were staying home by yourselves at my age.” She could see Clarke gearing up to respond but she spoke again before Clarke had the chance “But if it makes you feel any better I can go hang out with Jordan.” She looked at Clarke hopefully.

Clarke could feel her resolve start to slip away “What about your social worker? I don’t think she would be very happy if I just left you with a stranger to go out and have a drink.”

“Jordan isn’t a stranger, he was my brother’s best friend, he’s family. What my social worker doesn’t know won’t hurt her, trust me.”

A glance was spared in Raven’s direction and she could see that she was pleading for Clarke to give in. She looked back at Madi “Why are you working so hard to convince me to go out for a drink?”

Raven let out a groan “Maybe because she knows as well as I do that you need it. C’mon Clarke please?” she was trying her best to attempt a puppy dog face

She let out a defeated sigh “Alright, fine.” She looked at Madi “Go ahead and text Jordan and ask him if you can stay at his place for a few hours.” She turned to look at Raven “I’ll text the guys and see if they want to meet up at the Dropship for a few drinks, nothing crazy.” 

Raven gave a quick high-five to Madi in victory. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always you can find me on tumblr @ shaeheda


End file.
